High
by AriannaK
Summary: Human and Predator fall in love.
1. Chapter 1

I was high off my motherfucking ass-and I think that's why he let me live...Aliens didn't apparently grasp the concept of mind altering drugs, because this alien was very shocked at my behavior. I was a crazy American tourist visiting Brazil with my crappy boyfriend. When he left me alone in the hotel room, I decided to get a little high...In my high stupor I ran around in the streets. Anyone could have guessed I was going to get into serious trouble, get myself raped or killed or something-but no one could have guessed id run into a friggin alien. So, yea, this is that story.

First of all, my crappy boyfriend (Chris) lied about it being a hotel. It was actually one of his buddy's friends house. The guy rented the rooms out when money was getting tight. Wonderful, right? It was a shabby place, even the walls needed to be bleached. There were more empty beer bottles and socks on the ground than there was carpet. But Chris had described our trip to Brazil like a second honeymoon. I shouldn't have been so pessimistic, just because he couldn't afford a romantic lavish hotel! But you know what the bastard did on the first day we were there? He abandoned me. He took off with his friends to go bar hopping and probably find some hookers. So what did I do? I had a little me party.

I rummaged threw his friends stuff and found a beautiful pipe and a lot of pot (among other things-dirty magazines! lol). I'd quit that nasty smoking stuff years ago around when my dad died, but tonight it sounded good. I turned on the TV, drank a beer, lit the pipe, and pretended I had some yummy popcorn-extra buttery popcorn! I sucked on the end of the pipe, feeling the heat and then the burning down my throat. I forced myself to take the deepest breath I could. I'd forgotten how bad it hurt. I slowly let out a breath, barely able to keep myself from coughing. I'd have to get used to the burning all over again. I took another hit quickly after that, the burning still worse. I was impatient and took another, eager to get that floating feeling. I took hit after hit and was starting to think Chris's friend had some really crappy stuff...then the next thing I knew, I was _eating_ that imaginary popcorn.

I couldn't focus on the TV enough to remember what I was watching, but the party was great so far. Yay me..._yea right_...I climbed off the couch, and feeling like my feet were so far away, I walked to the kitchen. I snatched another beer from the fridge and looked for some food (would you believe that beer was the ONLY thing in the fucking fridge?). I rummaged threw the cabinets and found nothing. Frustrated, I went and searched Chris's bag for money. I planned on ordering pizza, but found something more fun. Chris had a box of Triple C's stashed in his bag among his underwear. I fumbled with the packaging, popping each little red pill out and then took about eight of them with a single gulp of beer. Now I was really going to have fun!

Being high made everything funny and interesting, but chill. CCC's made my heart race with energy and made me want to punch my fist threw a brick wall just from the rush! I turned on some music and began to sing and dance about the room. One problem: the furniture kept getting in my way and the street outside looked so much more spacious! I flung open the front door with a giggle. I stepped out under a dim street light. Then, I began to twerk. And dance! And sing! And twirl! Oh how the stars and the moon swirled above me!

I had lost both my shoes at some point, (when, I wasn't really sure of) but I was searching for them then. I zipped threw alley ways my eyes focused on the ground. I found them quickly enough, in the middle of the road. I sat in the street and slipped the cloth over my toes. For the life of me I couldn't remember how to tie them though...then it hit me-those weren't shoes...I had only found my socks. I continued my search for the missing shoes. Then I found some shoes on the ground in an alleyway! But I was smarter this time and realized they couldn't be mine because they were on a dead body. Nope, not my shoes. I stepped over the body and avoided the strange wet puddle around them, fearing for my socks. But then this dude got in my way. My face ran into his sculpted abs and I stumbled back.

He was HUGE. Had to be 7ft tall at least. He wore shiny gladiator armor on his shoulders and a metal mask. Thick dreads hung around his shoulders. I smiled up at him, and he let out a loud roar.

After my ears stopped feeling like they were friggin bleeding, I mumbled, "God that's hot."

His hand raised a shiny sword to my neck. I giggled and felt his huge muscular arm that held the weapon. He growled, and pressed the cold metal against my skin.

At to that, I said, "I like it when men talk dirty to me." And I my hand slipped threw his belt and under his protective metal cup.


	2. Chapter 2

My hand massaged his goodies and he lowered his sword. He was just starting to get hard when he let out a loud purring noise and I retracted my hand, giggling. The next thing I knew, he bent down and scooped me up off the ground. I let out a little excited shriek and let him carry me away. I played with his hair, stroking it, and letting it flow threw my fingers. When I stuck a strand in my mouth and gave it a light suck he almost fell to his knees. I threw my head back giggling at him.

He carried me threw the streets and jumped up to the roof of a building where a space ship suddenly appeared.

My eyes widened and I yelled, "Yea! Party trailer!" and threw my fist into the air.

He set me down and for a minute and I was entranced with the white fluffy fog at my feet for a few minutes while he was busy.

"Ooman." I heard him say, though I did not know what it meant. It was the closest thing to English he had said yet.

He came over to me and firmly held my face in his hand. He kept making strange clicky noises, grunts and growls and I had no idea what that was about. He held out a thin metal necklace to me though and jewelry is jewelry in any language! Well, its not, but you know what I mean. I snatched the metal necklace from his hand excitedly. I fumbled to get it to click together behind me, and he had to help. It made an audible snap and then my throat tingled and I felt a sharp pain on the front of my throat. I was worried for a moment, but then the pain went away.

"Thank you!" I shrieked and jumped up to throw my hands around his neck. My boyfriend never gave me presents.

I let go of him after a moment and began playing with the fog on the floor again. I spun around and kicked my feet around to see it swirl. It was super fun. The man was hitting buttons on his arm thingy and then took off his mask.

"Can you understand me now? Ooman means human in my language."

My head snapped up to him. Upon seeing his mask off, my mouth opened wide and I stared up at him. He had a huge forehead, an insect-like mouth, and small eyes.

Unsure of my reaction, he said, "I can put my mask back on if-"

But I cut him off, "Oh my god, I still didn't find my damn shoes!"

Puzzled, he cocked his head to the side, staring at me. "What is your name ooman?"

"Zoe. What's your name big guy?"

He gave his name, and I had him repeat the strange garble twice before asking, "Can I just nickname you Jed?"

He paused a moment, then nodded. I smiled up at him, loving those dreads...Then, suddenly, another alien entered the ship and Jed quickly shoved me to the ground onto my back. I disappeared into the fluffy fog, everything was hazy white.

"What. Was. That." The alien asked, staring at Jed threw his mask.

"Huh?" Jed responded innocently.

"That was a female ooman! I saw it! Have you become a bad blood so quickly brother?! You kidnapped an ooman and brought her on our ship? What were you thinking?!"

I popped my head up from the fog, "He didn't kidnap me, he carried me!"

The alien stared at me with horror, "And you gave her that old translator collar? That was supposed to be for emergencies!"

Jed finally jumped in, "Little brother, it's not what you think! It WAS an emergency! This ooman is special."

"No. You have to get her off the ship immediately, before..."

His sentence trailed off as I began to feel up his strong, manly leg. They had such strange, reptile-like skin with blotching and striping. His metal mask watched me as I curiously inspected his plated armor and felt my way up to the netting that covered his bare chest. When I reached up to feel his hair he actually backed away.

"What, brother, are you afraid of the little ooman woman?" Jed asked.

"What is wrong with her? She approaches us like we are playthings-yautja strike fear in even the most fearless of species!"

"I told you she was special!" Jed exclaimed, and wrapped his burly arms around my waist to pull me close to him. I let out a little giggle.

"You've drugged her! No, you must have dropped her on her head!"

"Hey! That's mean!" I exclaimed.

Jed laughed and the other alien stared at me threw his mask. I suddenly remembered my phone in my pocket and turned on some music.

"Dance with me!" I asked Jed, tugging on his arms.

He tilted his head at me. "Dance?"

"Yea, dance. Like this!" I swayed my hips and lifted my arms, I tried to get Jed to join and kept tugging on his arms but he wouldn't move a muscle. So, I pretty much ended up using him as a stripper pole...and that's when ANOTHER alien decided to show up. My party was actually shaping up to be a real party. Jed didn't bother to hide me, and as the slightly taller alien entered the ship, a growl came from deep in his chest. He stared at the two of us, his hands clenching into fists.

He kept himself composed though, and in a deadly voice he said, "You both were just recently blooded. I take you on your first human hunt as a favor to your father...and this is how you honor him? You both dishonor yautjas. You dishonor Paya. You-"

"I can explain!" Jed exclaimed.

"Get that thing off this ship at once. We are ending this hunt. And when we get home-!"

"Can you dance?" I suddenly asked. He simply stared at me like he didn't understand, so I asked again, "Can you dance? Jed here is a terrible dancer!" I let go of my stripper pole and walked towards the other alien man.

The alien stomped forward and removed the translator in the blink of an eye and tossed it. He yelled at me some string of babble. I stood there, thinking how incredibly hungry I was. His blade extended from his arm bracelet and he grabbed the front of my shirt and hauled me off the ground. I had to hold his arm tightly so my shirt wouldn't freakin rip off. It was kinda like a rollercoaster ride though, and I smiled t being picked up to easy. His other hand removed his mask, exposing his ridged head and red-yellow eyes. He held me close to him and let out a bellowing roar like a lion, his mandibles spread wide. My eyes immediately cringed shut at the pain it caused my eardrums, and I had the weirdest urge to kiss him. So I did. My eyes squinted open slightly and I leaned my head forward and kissed the side of his flexing mandibles, effectively cutting his roar short. He blinked at me with surprise and I goofily smiled at him.

He dropped me to the ground and I let out a little, "Waa!" before my bottom hit the hard floor.

They began clicking to each other again and I found my necklace on the ground and put it back on. Gossip was no fun if you couldn't understand it!

"...What do you mean...she...approached you?" The slightly taller alien asked.

"Like I said, after I made the kill, before I could claim the skull this ooman walked up to me-like I was human and there was no body! Like she knew me, and I wasn't just a stranger in an alley! She is SPECIAL!" Jed explained.

"So then you just decided to take her here?"

"Well...pretty much. She stuck her hand down...um, down my pants first." He said kinda nervously.

"So that is what this is all about? You stupid teenager! You would risk our entire honor over your uncontrollable sex drive?"

"It's not like that! When has an ooman ever approached a yautja with anything but fear? She shows NO FEAR. Like a yautja, like a warrior!"

He was silent for a moment, but then spoke gravely, "She must leave this ship."

The alien seemed to be their leader, and Jed complied. He grabbed my arm and he led me towards the exit. The ramp opened and he shoved me out. When I looked back, the ship was gone. I was standing on the roof of a building alone.


	3. Chapter 3

I had climbed down the side ladder, and walked a few blocks before realizing I had left my phone and music on the ship...and I still didn't have any shoes! I circled back to try and find the ship to get my phone. Lady Gaga was my life! But my plans were cut short as someone grabbed my hand from behind. I turned around to see it was Jed, but a scrawny man held a knife to my neck.

"Aw, you're not Jed."

"Money. Now." He commanded.

"I couldn't find my money! I really just wanted some pizza..." I explained.

He could immediately tell I was slammed, and so did himself the honor of searching my pockets himself. His bony hands reached into my short's front pockets and back, finding only that beautiful pipe and some weed.

"What's wrong with you girl? No money, no phone, no ID, no shoes..." He seemed to get an idea then, "Nobody must care about you much..." he shoved me against the closest building, and began undoing his pants.

He shoved up against me, and man did he smelled horrible. I jerked away, and he stumbled and fell to his naked ass with his pants at his ankles. He quickly pulled up his pants and grabbed my arm.

"Hey, let go! That hurts!"

He didn't even have time to raise his knife to me; two blades jutted from his chest, blood everywhere. Jed suddenly appeared from thin air, standing behind the scrawny man.

"Jed!" I screeched excitedly.

He dropped the body to the ground and retracted his blades. I used the body as a stepstool and jumped into Jed's arms.

The other alien suddenly appeared behind him and I exclaimed, "Hi! I never asked your name!?"

Jed spun around and I lowered myself to the ground. "I...she...this man...he..." Jed sputtered.

"You disobeyed me." The alien said, completely ignoring me.

"I did not! You never said I could not follow her-good thing I did, she was almost killed."

"You are dishonorable, Jed."

"Hey, what's your name? Hey. Hey. Hey what's your name?" I bugged.

He turned to me then, "SILENCE OOMAN BEFORE I TOO DISHONOR MYSELF AND KILL AN UNARMED FEMALE!"

"...Can I just call you Boss?"

Jed snickered at the comment and Boss redirected his attention.

"And you gave her back the translator? Jed, you have fallen from grace. You had such potential."

Jed lowered his head in shame.

"It wasn't his fault! I put the necklace back on myself. He gave it to me, like a gift."

"It was not his to give!" he hissed, ". . .But it would then be dishonorable for you to leave it...and dishonorable for me to take it. Now leave ooman. Go home and forget all of this. Jed, tend to your kill."

I did not listen, but watched curiously as Jed striped the skin off the body.

"Whatcha doing that for?" I asked.

Both masks looked up at me. "Look, she is not even squeamish at all!" Jed exclaimed proudly.

"She is a disobedient runt...but yes, curiously not shy." Boss stated. I didn't think he was going to answer, but then he continued, "Yautja are mighty predators. We hunt for sport and honor and for the right to mate. We collect skull trophies of our kill. But Jed has fallen from grace, and a sacrifice to the Gods is recommended. We will skin this ooman and hang him upside-down to try to appease Paya. He shall not claim a trophy for this kill."

Ok, that was a little more detailed answer than I expected and really only heard part of what he said, but nodded at him like I totally got it. Jed continued his work, and had finished pretty quickly as well.

"We shall walk you home brave ooman." Boss said. I knew he was starting to warm up to me.

"My name is Zoe."

"Ooman. You are brave but not worthy of hearing your name spoken by a yautja."

Or maybe he wasn't warming up to me...They had me lead the way while they invisibility followed. I had forgotten they were there, and was twirling in the streets and humming when I ran into two men. Literally I twirled and danced and my head spun and one of the men caught me from falling. The one that caught me was actually pretty handsome, and had creamy dark skin.

"Well you're just too pretty to be alone." The man said.

The other one pulled his gun, and I had no idea what they planed on doing with me, but Jed quickly interrupted.

"LET HER GO OOMAN OR DIE!" He roared, though it probably just sounded like growls to them—so they shot him.

Neon green freaking radioactive blood oozed from the wound by Jed's collar bone. I quickly went to Jed and tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding-I couldn't really reach but he seemed to enjoy my attempt. Boss easily killed both men, and proceeded to cut their heads off.

"What are you doing?! Jed's bleeeeding!" I squeaked.

Boss continued his work and huffed, "He deserves it."

My moth dropped open and I was on my tiptoes to stop the bleeding. Jed chuckled and lifted me up. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pressed my palms against his wound.

"Do not worry. I am strong. It's really nothing but a flesh wound...I will get the bullet out when we're back at the ship." Jed soothed.

I still worried. It must have hurt. I turned to watch Boss clean the skin off the skull. He saw me watching said, "Come here ooman, you can help."

Jed tilted his head curiously at him, but let me down.

I walked up to Boss and asked, "What do you want me to do?"

He tossed me one of the man's heads, leaking blood and covered in gunk and flesh on the neck part and still had eyes in the sockets just no skin. "Hold that a moment."

Boss then poured some kind of liquid on the body and it started to melt and disappear. It was incredibly strange. I was totally high but even seeing _that_ made me blink a few times. Boss looked at me, holding the dead mans head and watching the body melt curiously.

Then he said, "I think I'll eat this one."

He removed his mask. And Boss lowered his face to the other bodies severed neck. His mandibles tore at the red bloody flesh and he slurped up strips of the meat into his mouth cavity.

When he looked up at my face I had to ask, "Do humans taste good? Do different blood types taste different?"

Jed laughed his ass off, "Boss you would naw at that dirty ooman to gross her out! You fail! See how she bravely holds that head?"

Boss's eyes narrowed and he wiped his mouth. He poured the liquid to melt the body and snatched his head away from me.

He cleaned the skull and turned to me. "Ooman...have you seen our kind before?"

"Yea I've seen plenty of aliens before!" I said, thinking of the TV.

"So that is why you don't fear us? You've had contact with aliens before? When? Why? Do you know of our planet?"

I kinda got lost again and just nodded.

"You know of our planet then..." he trailed off in thought.

"I told you she was special! I TOLD YOU!" Jed said.

"She...is unique. And she is quite a magnet for prey as well-a great asset in hunts." Boss admitted.


	4. Chapter 4

He still insisted I be taken home though. We all walked threw the streets with no more interruptions...but I still had a problem: never found my shoes. Oh, and I really didn't remember where home was.

We started to wander in circles before Boss exclaimed, "Is this some sort of _game_? It is getting late. Where do you live?"

I glanced around then admitted, "I don't really know."

They both became visible. "You don't know?! This ooman's head IS broken!" Boss hissed.

"No I don't live around here-I mean, I'm supposed to be on vacation and am staying with at boyfriend's friends house. I'm not familiar with the area."

They both seemed speechless.

"I just need to call my boyfriend. I left my phone on your ship!" I said.

Boss lifted his hand to his temples in frustration. "I could not figure out how to stop the noise and smashed it. I did not know it was valuable!"

I stared at him.

"Do you another way of finding direction?"

I shook my head. "My phone had GPS."

"Do you have any money for other logging?"

I shook my head, "No money. My phone had some Starbucks money loaded I could have bought snacks with."

"Do you have another way of communication?"

I shook my head again, "My phone had all my contact numbers and held my ID."

"I did not know cell phones were such an important piece of equipment. It is as if I had lost my arm bracelet, all controls."

I nodded. Aliens got the importance of cell phones more than parents did. He surprised me though when he said, "You will stay with us on our ship tonight until we figure something out for tomorrow when the sun is up."

"_What_?" Jed reeled, "You would let her..."

"It is the honorable thing, seeing I have destroyed her equipment...and she honored us in the hunt by luring prey." Boss sighed, and turned to me, "You have earned your name Zoe."

I gave him a goofy smile.

We headed back to the ship, and Jed threw me over his shoulder to climb up to the roof.

The other alien was waiting inside and stared at me with shock, "Why did you bring her back? I told Boss you had probably gone looking for her..." He saw Boss enter the ship next, and said, "Oh."

Jed threw out a mouthful of a name in anger, staring at the other alien. It was strange, like some kind of Egyptian pharaoh name nobody could possibly pronounce correctly.

I pointed to the alien and said, "I'm going to name you Jake."

"Jake!" Jed said again in anger. "JAKE!"

I was thinking about how cool the translator was to associate my new names for them into what the aliens were actually saying. Awesome sauce.

"**JAKE**! YOU LITTLE TATTLE TAIL!"

"Boys, settle down. We have company. And its time for bed anyway." Boss stated.

His anger deflated in compliance. The other alien stood there nervously, and stared at me. Boss began undoing his armor and stuffed it in a hidden case in the wall of the ship. Jed went to another part of the ship, probably to remove the bullet. I stood there awkwardly, my energy starting to fade.

"Where am I to sleep?" I asked.

I expected some sort of mean comment, but Jake just shrugged. We both stood there...

Then Jake left and I heard him ask Boss down the hall, "Why is that strange thing to stay with us? She is asking were she is to sleep."

I kinda forgot to listen to the rest of the conversation. I was distracted by the fluffy fog at my feet again. But soon boss returned to the back of the ship and said, "Zoe, you will take my bed to tonight. I will sleep in the control room chair. If you need, there is a small bathroom down the corridor to the right. Or I can show you to the room now."

Before I could say anything, Jed came in and scoped me off the floor. "Nonsense! Boss, she will sleep in my bed with me."

Boss eyed him, but said, "As you wish."

**WTF**?! Do I get any say? I thought as Jed carried me away to his room. He dropped me on his soft bed covered in furs, then crawled in bed on top of me. I had a feeling he had been waiting to be alone with me all night. He put his whole weight on me and he must have been two hundred pounds.

His hands felt up my entire body, "Your skin is so soft."

Apparently, that meant he wanted to see more of it. He tugged my shirt up and his hand reached up under. He seemed puzzled (I think he felt the bra) and decided to take my shirt all the way off. It went over my head and his hands tugged at my bra. It started to rip and I slapped his hand away. Men. Could work on cars (or space ships) but couldn't get a bra off. He would not be deterred though. He ripped my bra off and both his hands claimed my breasts. God it felt good! His mouth claimed mine, his mandibles widened over my mouth and a long tongue licked about my mouth and along my gums. He pressed against me and with his mouth over mine I could barely breathe. My hands shot up to shove at his chest, but with one hand he held my wrists above me strongly. I tried to yell at him, my lungs burning and it felt like he was going to snap my wrists in two. His other hand left my breasts and reached to my shorts. I jerked my legs away when in his haste his nails scratched my skin. I'm sure my face must have been turning purple by then. All that I could get out was muffled mmm _mmm_ **mmm** _**mmmm's**_ with his mouth over mine.

My heartbeat raced frantically now. But suddenly, Jed was flung across the room and hit the wall with a thud. It was Boss. Without a word, he grabbed my clothes and wrapped his arm around my waist to carry me off.

He gently sat me down on his bed, dressed me, and asked, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, but he didn't seem satisfied. He looked at the bruising on my wrists and the scratches on my inner thy.

"He is young and doesn't have the necessary self control just yet. I thought he could at least control himself for a moment! This is no way a guest should be treated."

Hey I wasn't dead, and it had gotten me pretty hot being ravaged by an alien. I shrugged and lie down to sleep. Boss huffed at my disregard for almost being crushed and stepped away to leave.

"Nooo, stay with me." I begged.

He hesitated, but then laid down on the bed next to me. I lay on my side, watching him. He was like a statue just lying there on his back, his arms strait at his sides. I giggled. His eyes shifted over to me uncertainly. I reached over him to grab his arm and he let me pull him over me as I turned to my stomach. I used him as a blanket, his warm body held to my back and I cradled his arm between my breasts. It was comfy.


	5. Chapter 5

God did I get the shock of my life, sober, the next morning. I knew I wasn't dreaming. I was one hundred percent positive. I slowly inched away from it as far as I could, holding myself securely against the wall. My eyes were wide as I stared it.

The thing was in bed with me, huge, and muscular. Its forehead was broad with slightly yellow markings on lightly olive-colored skin. Skin, which had circles like a lizard monster. Long, dark tentacle things draped around its neck. Its eyes were small. It had some small spikes on its face in a line where eyebrows should have been. Its jaws looked waxy and it had four mandibles with sharp fangs on the end like a leech that could penetrate your skull and suck your brains out. His whole body was mottled with dark blotches like mold and some light striping. Its massive, manly hands held thick sharp claws. It had a loose loincloth over its private area, and I dare not look at what evil snake-like thing could have lay beneath it.

The first thing that came to mind was SEWER MONSTER. Yea, silly, I know...but my dad had always told me bedtime stories of a humanoid lizard man that stalked the sewers. He made up different stories about it and those would be my bedtime stories. I loved the stories like they were about pretty little rainbow unicorns, but he still teased me about how the lizard man would come and eat me if I didn't take a bath, clean up my toys, or go to bed. Now, the lizard skinned monster man from the sewer had finally come!

But threw my pounding headache I looked around at the ornate yellow stone/metal walls-and a second description came to mind: ALIEN. I had been abducted and was in space and drugged by aliens. I quietly rose to my knees on the bed. The bed was sunk in the wall, so I couldn't slink to the end. The only escape was to carefully crawl _over_ the alien. I was so quiet, and so careful, but once I moved my leg above him-he opened his eyes. Beady red eyes stared into my soul, his clawed hands went to my waist, and like an electrified cat I sprung off the bed with a high pitch scream!

I hit the cold floor with a thud, and pain shot up my right arm and my knees. Fog swirled around me, and I finally started to think about the situation . . . The fog—it was so familiar. My arm hurt—that was my fault for jumping out of bed. I had been drugged—but I had done that to myself. I had lost my shoes—but they weren't really important right now (god did I hate my stupid brain. Forget the shoes!). Yes, I had been almost crushed and raped by an alien—but I had been likening it (and really, I was the one that had touched him first). Yes, I had seen some dead bodies—but most were of men that were going to harm me. . . So, OK. Relax.

"Zoe . . . are you alright?"

I took a deep breath and said, "Yep. I'm just fine."

"You jumped out of bed, what the hell was that for? Did I do something wrong?"

"No. . . no. I just. . . I didn't want to wake you. . . I have to pee. . ."

I slowly kept my gaze away from the alien and stumbled to the bathroom, passing another alien that asked, "Hey Zoe, was that you who screamed? You ok? Hey!" I ignored him, and zipped into the bathroom and . . . damn it I couldn't lock the door!

There didn't even appear to be a lock. Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I stared into their alien mirror, my hands gripping what I hoped to be the sink (they were male, and they were much taller than me, so who knows), but I tried not to think about it. I looked into my own baby blue eyes. I focused on my smudged black mascara, and then to my short messy bright blue hair . . . I had no right to be freaking out so much. WHY WAS I FREAKING OUT SO MUCH! My heart felt like someone had a vice grip over it. Yes, there had been dead bodies. Very dead, very gross, human bodies—but that wasn't what I was worried about. I had seen plenty death before, and the men were thugs I didn't even know. It was the _aliens_ that I was bugging out over.

**Aliens**. Even thinking the word made my head spin! I had to be dead. Dead dead dead in an alley way somewhere. I would easily believe that before I believed that while I was high and on triple C's that I befriended some aliens (and almost slept with one of them!). The thought of it! I hoped that the drugs were still in my system, but it wasn't like I was on any hard drugs like acid or meth to begin with, and so would not have been hallucinating. Also, I could feel the telltale signs of a dug hangover. Time seemed strange and garbled. Pieces of memories surfaced and I kept thinking, "Wow I did that? Did that really happen?" Aliens. Bodies. Aliens. . . I just _had_ to be hallucinating. _Please_ dear god let me be hallucinating . . . The pot could have been cut with something. I pulled the beautiful pipe out of my back pocket and the small bag of weed that was left. My savior!

It was just what I needed to calm down . . . but I did not have a lighter. . . I would have to face the alien's stone cold sober. Shit.

I really really didn't want to, but I couldn't stay on the aliens ship (and in their bathroom none the less) so I slowly creaked open the door. All I had to do was get to the back of the ship and RUN OUT THE GOD DAMN DOOR. As soon as I slid the door over, the alien that had been in bed with me was there.

"Are you alright, ooman?" he asked, slowly getting closer.

I. Couldn't. Move. I stared up at his huge figure, my eyes getting wide, my throat constricting, my heart pounding against my rip cage, and my lungs turning in to solid stone.

He inched closer to me, ". . . Zoe . . . are you ok? Zoe, answer me."

His clawed hand reached up to stroke the side of my face and I suddenly felt dizzy. My vision grew dark and I could feel my head slowly leaning backwards. I thought, "Oh, how strange" before everything went black.

I must not have been out for more than I few seconds, because lifted my eyelids to see the walls of the bathroom and the alien's strong arms around me. My body went rigidly tense at his touch. He held his hands under my knees and a hand holding my back so my face was cradled against him. My hands quickly shot out to his chest to shove myself away. I strained not to have my body against his but he held me tight.

"Jed! Jed get in here! Something is wrong with the human!" the alien bellowed.

Both Jed and Jake quickly appeared in the doorway, and Boss carried me back to the bed.

"What did you do to her?!" Jed accused angrily.

"Nothing! I did nothing!" he stared at my petrified body in his arms, and quickly acted as a leader should, "Jed, check the ships calibrations. It should be set to automatically adjust to an environment all organisms can tolerate—but just set it to human to be safe." Jed went to the task and he turned to Jake, "Get her something to drink and fetch me my mask so I can take a scan of her body."

Jed checked back in quickly, "The readings were fine. They were set to basic human air conditions as we can survive their air for quite a while, but I turned it to the manual human settings as you said."

Jake came to stand by him a moment later. Boss gently sat me down on the bed, and I scrambled away from him. I sat in the corner of the bed and pulled my knees to my chest. Three huge aliens stared at me with worry. I knew their names. They were trying to help. Everything was ok. . . but my body was acting like I was going to die. I guess it was something like stage fright—you know no harm can really come, but your body sweats and shakes and your throat closes up. I felt like that, times a _million_. My hands shook and I just really wanted to get away, for it all to be over with.

Boss clicked his mast in place, put on his arm controls, and lowered himself to his knees before the bed. He stared at me a moment, then went pushing buttons on his device.

Button after button he stared at me before finally saying, "I can't find anything wrong with her vitals, yet her heart races out of control!"

He removed his mask and snatched the glass of water from Jake. He extended the cup out to me. I couldn't move.

"Take it, Zoe, it is only water." Boss encouraged.

When I didn't take it, Jake began pacing around the room. The glass was set on the floor and Boss reached out to touch my arm. I let out an unintentional whimper.

He retracted his hand but said, "Zoe, _please_, tell me what's wrong. . . I don't know what to do. Zoe, just say something, please." When I failed to respond he said, "Get her some food. Maybe that's what she needs. . ."

"Boss, maybe we should just dump her at one of those human hospitals. Humans would know what to do with a human. They would know what's wrong with her." Jed suggested nervously.

"We don't need any humans help!" he said stubbornly, "We have more advanced technology and medicine, if something is wrong with her we can fix it. Now get her something to eat."

"Don't be stupid, Boss! You have no idea what to do! You admitted it! I won't let you kill her because you're too much of a tight ass to go ask for help!" Jed barked.

Boss rose to his full height to stand above Jed, "I am the leader of this hunt! You will not question me! If she dies, it would be your fault for bringing her here in the first place!"

I moaned and held my knees tightly to me, my body shaking. The tension between them was making me sick and I feared they were going to rip each other to shreds any second. And the other just alien paced in the background. I felt like I was in total shock, and soon tears broke threw and I began to cry. _Damn drugs must have messed with my brain_. It was just too much.

Boss turned his attention back to me, but Jed looked like he was going to go berserk and attack Boss. The alien slowly reached out his clawed hand and griped my arm; I couldn't help but let out a little squeal and jerk away. He grabbed my arm again, tighter, and my legs dug into the bed to try and counteract him as he pulled me closer.

"You're hurting her!" Jed accused.

Boss continued to pull me closer and I began to scream, "No! Let me go! Let me go!" and I began to thrash around.

He easily held me, letting me fight, and reeled me in close to him. He held me against his body painfully, tears still streaming down my face. Jed's hands clenched into tight fists and I thought for sure he was going to slug Boss in the back of the head, but as soon as he pressed my face to his chest I stopped struggling. It was strange. Something within him vibrated his chest and made such a soothing cooing noise. He was purring. I recognized the noise, and felt the fight simply just drain out of me. He was purring. . .

He offered me the drink again, and I still refused. "Zoe, are you hungry? Do you need anything?"

I ignored him, and closed my eyes, just loving that gentle purring sound. Though lions can not purr, I imagine if they could it would sound similar to his purring—deeper sounding, slow, forcefully calming, and steady. I matched my exhales with the sound and was feeling more normal by the second.

Suddenly Jake interrupted the calm though, and said, "Boss look at this!" I opened my eyes and Boss turned to see Jake holding my pipe and weed. I must have left it in the bathroom?

"Let me see them, Jake, they must belong to Zoe." They were handed over and Boss examined them.

My cheeks flushed red and I snatched them both away. All three aliens looked at me questionably.

"Is that some kind of ooman herbal medication?"

I thought of people with glaucoma, and nodded.

"Do you need it? Is that why you became unstable?"

I didn't want him to ask anymore questions so I nodded my head again.

Boss set me on upright so I was sitting on the edge of the bed, "If you have a medical condition you should have taken it earlier!"

"I tried!" I squeaked, "But I didn't have a lighter and I panicked and. . ."

"A lighter? Fire is all you need?" Boss asked.

I stuffed a bit of the weed into the pipe and they lit it for me. My anxiety was rising as they all stared at me and watched me smoke it. It had to be the most awkward thing I'd ever done in my entire life! But after the purring and the pot, I felt my old self again. I stuffed the pot and the rest of the weed into my back pocket and gave a goofy ass smile to all the aliens.

Jed immediately swooped down on me and gave me a hug, "I'm so glad you didn't die!"

I giggled.

Boss nodded in approval, and picked up the glass of water to dump it out.

"Noooooooooooo!" I reached for the glass, "This hee hee medication makes me incredibly thirsty." Boss gave the glass to me and I chugged it down.

"I'm hungry." I chirped happily.

All four of us were soon seated at a table that folded down from the wall of the ship. Chairs were collected and food was made. The first thing that came to mind was: nachos? There were bowls set in front of me with all sorts of strange looking things and an empty plate near my hands. They grabbed some thin flaky things from one bowl to line their plate with then piled on the other strange gunk and ate it like nachos or chips and dip.

"Eat, Zoe, everything at the table is safe for ooman consumption." Boss reassured.

I followed as they did, placing the flaky "chips" onto my plate . . . but how would everything taste? I did not want to offend them, so I pilled on the gooey, the chunky, the pieces that actually looked like just regular meat, and everything else. It looked . . . edible. I took a bite. Yea, it was totally gross. Not terrible, not worth throwing up, but it was not the American food I was so used to.

The flakey hard slabs literally tasted minty. The meat was very gamey. The gooey green stuff tasted slightly like broccoli and metal. The pieces that looked like human raisins tasted like nothing I could possibly describe, and the other melty cheese-consistency stuff actually tasted like coca-cola (if you imagined it without fizz-completely flat tasting, without any sugar, and more concentrated). All those strange ass flavors in one bite . . . just plain eww. But, I was hungry and I was high which made me not very picky.

The meal eaten and cleaned up, Boss dressed for the hunt. "Jed, find a way to get her home. Jake, do not let Jed and Zoe be alone together."

Jake's eyes widened in disgust and his mandibles flexed inward. My cheeks flushed red.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as Boss left the ship and the door shut behind him, Jed lunged to my side and tried to kiss me. My heart raced. His mandibles were spread wide. I skirted away from him on instinct. I calmed down immediately, but still had a confused alien staring at me sadly.

Before he could ask, a devilish smile grew on my face and I said, "You're not getting any _that_ easy. You have to catch me first."

Jake all but gagged.

Jed quickly caught onto the game and I zipped away from him. He chased after me and I felt the thrilling danger that clutched my chest. The ship was small, Jed was a predator, and I was easy to catch—but it was fun. Only when Boss returned to the ship did we realize how late it had gotten. Jed was supposed to have figured a way to return me home.

I thought when Boss saw me he would be mad, but all he said was, "No luck finding her residence?"

"Nope." Jed reported.

"Well then I suppose she will have to stay another night." Boss said almost happily, but then asked, "You have enough medication? You are of full health?"

I nodded, but I really didn't need the pot anymore. It had worn off pretty quickly but Jed had kept me occupied. Like teenagers, we had talked and played around, and he had kissed me some more . . . I don't know why I had lost it earlier . . . Though they all did still frighten me a bit. You don't just get used to being near a tiger, an anaconda, or a shark just because it hasn't eaten you yet.

I followed Boss into his room and watched him place his skulls on a hidden shelf within the ship. He had two human skulls on the shelf already, and added another one and then a dogs skull to the collection. I wondered if a stray had attacked him. . .

He turned to see me watching and said, "I'm going to get to bed. You kept me up practically all night the way you kept wiggling."

"I did?" I squeaked, "I'm sorry. . ."

I nervously watched him undress . . . well, he just took off his armor, but the things I was _feeling_ you would have thought he was standing naked in front of me . . . naughty naughty thoughts. I watched his mottled body get into bed, those animal furs under him and I was prepared to jump in after him. Then, Jed entered.

He seized my waist and pulled me against him, "Hey, you got her last night. She sleeps in my bed tonight."

"Absolutely not. I can smell the hormones leeching through your skin."

"Oh and I suppose you do not reek of it as well? I have control. I will be careful. I will not crush her."

Why did they always talk about me like I wasn't there when it came to sleeping arrangements?

"Fine then, Zoe can go with you." He said reluctantly.

Again, I did not get a say. Jed scooped me up and carried me to his bed. He set me down as he had before, and got into bed over me. I thought it was going to be a complete repeat of last night's events, but he slowly let himself lie to the side of me. He lay on his side and watched me. I awkwardly cuddled up against him, my face on his strong bare chest. He stroked my hair. I kept waiting for him to make a move, to kiss me, to touch me . . . but he never did. I guess he was getting better at his control already.

I must have fallen asleep, because I was waking up now. I was just barely aware that he was touching me. Meh, I didn't care. I slipped back into sleep.

Later in the night I awoke because of him again. Groggily, I knew he was undressing me. I blinked my eyes and limply began to shove at his hands, but before I was fully awake a vibration came from his chest and he was purring. Hmmm. . .I fell back asleep.

Again, I awoke to him touching me—no, moving me this time. I opened my eyes and scowled at him. He was hovering above me and spreading my legs so he could be between them. His eyes met mine and he began to purr again. My eyes fluttered. Uh-oh. . . But I fought the calming purr this time, fought to stay awake.

"Jed, what do you think your doing?" I asked sleepily.

His hands caressed every inch of his body, as did his mandibles, and he said, "Shhh. Go to sleep."  
"No. You go to sleep, Jed." I gave a pathetic shove to his chest.

He didn't budge. I wasn't really surprised though, as my boyfriend had never been deterred by my struggling either.

"I need you so bad. I need you now." He pleaded.

I turned to my side and tucked in my legs, "I'm serious Jed, go to bed."

He grabbed my legs and pulled me back to the previous position. When I couldn't pull my legs away, I sat up some and covered myself. He grumbled and went to remove my hand. I kept it blocking the entrance and my other hand shoved his hard cock away. I sucked in a surprised breath and jerked my hand back. I WAS AWAKE NOW. What the hell was that? I stared at my pained hand with tiny dots of blood on the palm like it had been used as a pincushion.

"Jed stop!" I cried and I tried harder to close my legs.

I sat up more and got a good look at his cock. The thing was fucking COVERED IN SPIKES. Very very tiny, short spikes, but holy crap it would be like shoving shards of glass up there.

"Jed, please, don't!"

He securely held my legs in place and I desperately shoved at his chest. When he inched closer I brought my hand back and then slapped him in the face as hard as I could.

"Jed, you don't understand! Stop!"

He held one hand firmly on my hip to keep me from moving, and the other seized both my arms and held them above me and he prepared to enter me. My heart pounded desperately within my chest. I let out a pathetic whimper and braced myself for the intense pain as I felt the tip of his shaft brush the lips of my opening.

And then I screamed, "BOSS!"

Jed paused a moment.

I screamed for help again, "BOSS!"

And then the alien covered my mouth, allowing my weak hands to flail and shove at him. It was the middle of the night and the other alien was surly sleeping. . . But the door was suddenly forced open and the huge alien stomped into the room.

"Jed you get off of her before I kick your naked ass!" his voice was deadly serious.

Jed hesitated, but slowly climbed off of me and hid his face in submission. Boss reached forward and yanked me out of the bed by my wrist. He threw me up onto his shoulder and stomped back out of the room. He set me down gently on his bed and stared at me.

"This is the second time this has happened, and the last. I am sorry allowed such behavior to continue . . . on our planet it is the females who could harm the males. Try to get some sleep." He said, and handed me my shorts and shirt.

He sounded like he was leaving, "You're not coming back to bed?"

Boss cocked his head at me, "After almost being raped you would want me next to you?"

"Well, I trust you. . ." I said nervously. What was I supposed to say? Yes! Yes! I want to sleep next to you, to feel your strange skin, your arms around me. . .

He hesitated, but then began to climb into bed around me, claiming the wall side. I guess he wanted to make sure I could get up easily and take medication. I turned and watch him lay his head down on the roll of animal furs that served as a pillow. His long dark dreads mostly behind him, but one strand hung in front of his neck. Once I was dressed, I swung my feet up onto the soft bed and laid on my side to watch him—as Jed had watched me. The room was a cozy temperature, but I still wanted some kind of blanket. They had all these animal furs to line the bed, but no covers. He had his eyes closed already, but when I began to inch closer to him his small red eyes looked at me curiously. Be brave! I urged myself.

I curled up against him my hands up by his chest and my head near his neck. I closed my eyes but felt his were still watching me. I looked up at him and said, "Why don't you guys have blankets?"

"Are you cold?" he asked, worried. "The ship should be set to optimal—"

"No, I'm fine; I just . . . like something around me."

He wrapped his arm around my back now and entwined his leg with mine and I smiled.

"We don't make our own heat like you do. We are the temperature of the environment, which can be bad in cooler temperatures, so we have that netting that maintains homeostasis. A blanket over you would bounce lost heat back to you, efficiently warming you."

Ok . . . so I didn't know what homeostasis was, but I did know, "That means I would be the one warming you up?"

"Yes any heat lost from your body will warm me above the temperature of the room, and my body will then reflect it back. I am your blanket."

"Awesome." I said as I closed my eyes and snuggled myself as close to him as possible, my head against his neck.

The next day I awoke to a conversation. Boss and Jed were in the corridor, talking. I stretched, kept myself from yawning, and tried to listen in.

"No, you are forgiven. She will not be left alone with you, but no punishment shall be received for your actions—unless she wills it." That was Boss talking.

"Thank you, leader. . .but why?" Jed asked.

"She. . .She is quite tempting."

Jed laughed, and Boss said, "Shhh, she is still asleep! I don't know how that race is rested the way they wiggle around in bed though. . . She kept me up all night again. She brushes her hands on me at night. She rubs her head on my like I'm the pillow. She flips from her back to her side and over again. She makes all kinds of cute noises . . . I don't know how you lasted even part of the night next to her!"

I suddenly felt terrible. I hadn't let him get any sleep with my wiggling and the dreams I had been having—dreams of him. . .


	7. Chapter 7

That day we looked up my boyfriends friends name in the white pages at a local library (both aliens had come with me, fully cloaked in invisibility, but it was so weird knowing they were there!) and I found the address to his house. But, Jed wouldn't let me leave. Boss agreed, saying I could stay until their scheduled hunt was over. Yay! And Jake was apparently successful in his hunt that day and had a human skull with him to prove it. Everything was great, but that night, I refused to let myself ruin anybody's sleep. When the aliens were undressing I slipped away to the control room where Boss had first said he was going to sleep. There was a comfy chair there and I curled myself in it. And that's where Boss found me.

"Is something wrong Zoe?" he asked.

I pretended to already be asleep. I didn't want to admit that I'd overheard their conversation . . . even though Boss had already told me I was wiggly before. I guess it had just finally sunk in.

"Zoe. . .?"

I refused to answer, until he came around and begun lifting me out of the chair.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked firmly.

"I could ask you the same. Is something the matter?"

I shook my head.

"If that's a no, then why don't you come to bed, with me?"

I shrugged. God I was acting like a teenager.

"Did I do something wrong?" he seemed so sincere.

"I know I don't let you sleep, so I figured I'd just sleep here for the night."

"Ah, next to all the controls to the ship while you sleep and wiggle around?"

I guess it was an all around bad idea. I shrugged. I let him pick me up and place me in bed. I thought he was going to leave, and take my spot in the chair as he had tried to do all other nights. But, he didn't. Boss crawled into bed next to me and wrapped his arms around my back.

I felt a thick strand of his hair and let it run threw my fingers, "Don't you need sleep? Have Jed and Jake sleep in one bed and I can take the other or something."

"Can I kiss you?"

I heart skipped a beat.

"What?"

". . . Can I kiss you?"

"You want to?" I squeaked, like a kid with a crush.

He moved his face closer to mine, and his hand pushed away a strand of my blue hair, "Is that a yes?" he breathed.

". . . Yea. . ." I said in a daze. I knew I had to be dreaming.

His four mandibles brushed against my lips, then to my cheeks as they widened to claim my face. He started slowly, his long tongue just barely behind my teeth, tickling the ridges of my upper mouth. His hands went to my hips and worked up to my chest. That wasn't part of the deal, but I loved it. I was gooey butter at his touch. I moaned for more, and my hands reached threw his hair. His tongue probed deeper into my mouth, and down the back of my throat. My back arched up against him. Oh I wanted him so badly.

His thin tongue slipped from my mouth leaving me gaping for breath.

"Can I remove your clothes?"

I nod excitedly and actually begin to remove them myself and his loincloth like covering as well. I wanted to feel every inch of my soft skin against his. I _needed_ it. I kicked the shorts off the bed and threw the shirt somewhere. Jed had ripped my bra the first night and I think it was the second night that he also lost my underwear. I flipped to my back, naked, and he came to lay over me, straddling me. I wanted him to take me! But I had to be mindful of those spikes. I knew nothing could come out of this night, so I eyed his member suspiciously. He was still soft. He had to have some serious control.

His mouth crawled across my soft skin, and when it came to my breasts his mandibles caressed and fondled them and licked them all over . . . and it was the weirdest feeling but it felt like electricity running under my skin.

Then he lifted me up from the bed and held me against him as he was on his knees. My legs wrapped around his torso. His hands were on my ass. My arms went around his neck. His tongue probbed down into my mouth, and my own tongue began to explore his.

After a minute he knew I had to catch my breath and he let me fall back onto the bed with a soft bounce. He let out a small predatory growl that made my heart race with excitement. His hands parted my legs wide and he BIT me. It was a small playful bite that sent my heart racing. He laid down between my legs and let out a low, rumbling growl from his chest before he bit the side of my hip. I could have swore sparks shot from the place he had done it. He crawled farther up my body and let his mandibles lightly squeeze at my nipples. And his tongue licked up between my breasts before he came to kiss me again.

His mandibles caressed the sides of my face as our tongues swirled together. His hands slowly reached up to entwine our fingers together. He let more of his weight come down on me, and his hips dropped—and that's when I felt it. Something firmly pushed at my entrance and I let out a scream. I ripped my face from his and quickly scooted up and away from his hard cock. He lifted himself away from me, his hands on each side of me, propping him up.

"I'm sorry. . . I should have asked permission. . ."

I was suddenly furious, "Get off me! Just get off me!" I shoved at his chest and he backed away to sit at the end of the bed, confused.

With those spikes, and he was still going to go threw with it! He didn't really care about me at all. I sat up and pulled my knees to my chest in a tight ball.

I kinda sorta began to cry and that's when he said, "You're bleeding."

I was puzzled for a moment, hadn't thought he'd gotten that far. I hadn't felt any spikes down there . . . and that's when I felt something other then tears running down my face. I wiped my palm on my cheek and it suddenly stung. I looked at my palm and the blood. When I had ripped my face away from his kiss his fangs on those mandibles must have caught.

He quickly got off the bed and retrieved a medical kit.

"The scratches aren't that deep, we can use this cream and they should be just fine."

I was so angry, but let him put the cream on. All four scratches were really beginning to sting. The cream immediately stopped the bleeding and lessened the pain as well. He examined my face a moment, and then put the medical kit away.

"I'm so sorry for whatever I did." He said, coming back to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry if I did court you properly . . .if I hurt you. . .if I am not attractive enough. . .if you are still attached to your boyfriend. . .whatever it was, believe me I am sorry. It will not happen again." And with that, he tossed me my clothes.

I ignored the clothes, "I was none of that!" I said angrily.

"Then what was it?"

It was hard to talk, my throat wouldn't cooperate and I began to cry harder, "You act all polite and even act so stupid as to ask my _permission_ to kiss me then you do this!"

"I don't understand. . ."

"Those spikes you idiot! How can you act like you care for me then just go ahead and stick it in and see if I bleed to death?!" God, I was being dramatic.

Boss suddenly zipped to my side and pulled me into a hug. He purred and I rested my head against him in defeat.

My anger left, and he held me and said, "In no way would I or _could_ I ever hurt you on purpose like that." He loosened his grip and his hand nudged my chin so I would look up at him, "Zoe, I have no spikes. I am so sorry for not explaining it to your earlier."

I looked up at his red eyes, confused. Had it had spikes? Not when it was soft but neither had Jed's. . .I hadn't caught a look at it when it was hard. . .?

"Zoe. . .The spikes are an adaptation that keeps the female from pulling away before sperm has been deposited. . . But once a male gets a female pregnant, the spikes disappear forever. Jed has no kids yet."

I reveled at the explanation.

"But that means you. . ."

"Yes. I have kids . . . and I have a wife, a mate."

I swear my eyes were bugging out of my head. He has kids. He has a wife. He has kids. He has a wife. . .

"Zoe, if you permit it, I would like to kiss you again, and touch you, and have sex with you."

"But you have a wife!" I protested. This couldn't be happening!

"I know." was all he said, before he kissed me again . . . and I let him. I shouldn't have, but I let him.


	8. Chapter 8

I'd let a married alien man sleep with me. And the next day, I did something else awful. I stole a box of Morning After pills. It wasn't easy. They keep those behind the counter and I had to act like I was going to buy it and acted like I wanted to read the box but instead I took off running threw the store and out the door with them. I didn't even know if I could get pregnant, or if I could that these would do anything!

When I came back to the ship Jed and Boss were relieved I was ok, since I had insisted they not follow me. They could have trailed me anyway while invisible, but. . . I don't think they did. I took the pill and we sat down for breakfast: more weird nachos. I was planning out some way to get Boss alone to ask him about babies and such, but at the end of the meal he seemed to want to talk to me as well.

"Jed, Jake, clean up the plates. Zoe, will you join me in my room a moment?"

Neither Jed nor Jake seemed fazed and I wondered if I had missed another one of their conversations about me while I was asleep. My cheeks went red, but I followed Boss into the bedroom.

I waited for him to speak, seeing as he had asked me here first.

"Zoe, I don't know how to say this. . ."

Oh shit my heart was racing now.

". . .so I guess I'll just say it right out. . ."

I fidgeted and picked at my fingernails. He still didn't say anything.

"Can I get pregnant?" I blurted.

He nodded.

"With an alien child?"

He nodded again.

"Will human, um, anti-preggo pills work?" I asked.

He raised his shoulders. Well, shit.

"Zoe, that's not all I wanted to talk to you about."

Shit. Shit. Shit.

". . . I. . . We're leaving today. The hunt is over. We cannot extend it. We cannot stay. You cannot come."

Well, he made that painfully clear. I held back tears, and nodded.

He turned to leave, but then I all but yelled, "Wait!"

He stood, waiting.

"Boss. . . I don't care what rules your planet has. I don't care how impossible it is. I don't care what the excuses are. . . You have to come back. In a few months or eight months—but I just cannot have an alien baby alone."

He nodded solemnly.

"No, you have to promise me. Promise me you'll return to see if I'm pregnant. _Promise_."

"I promise Zoe, I will return to you."

He kept that promise. Eight months later he followed the tracking device Jed had installed in the flesh of my palm. He came to me in winter, at night, when I was alone.

I was asleep and he nudged me awake saying, "I don't have much time."

My eyes fluttered open and I thought I was dreaming, ". . . Boss? Is that you? Am I dreaming?" What can I say, I was still groggy...

"Yes, Zoe, it's me."

I leaped from the bed and gave him a big hug, flinging my arms around his neck. "I didn't think you would actually come!"

"I see you're not with child. . . I have to go."

"No! Why? Please, just stay with me a while."

"No, Zoe I have to go. My flights and the recordings by my helmet can be audited at any time. I won't endanger you any further. I have to go. The sooner I go the better."

He pried my arms away from him and sat me on my bed. He left me then, in the dark, wondering if it had all been a dream after all.

It had been a year since I'd seen any aliens, then one night I ran into Jed. We met like the first time I had ran into him. He was in an alleyway at night and I literally walked into his invisible form. He had done it on purpose.

"Hello Zoe." An invisible voice cooed.

I felt the invisible object in front of me, a smile growing on my face.

"Guess who?" He asked.

"Jed, I know that's you!"

He let himself be visible to me them. I wrapped my arms around his torso, "It's so good to see you! How's Boss?"

"He's great. That's actually part of the good news I came to tell you about!"

I think my heart literally skipped a few beats.

"He's been talking to members of our council about 'a female ooman with no fear' that he met on an Earth hunt. Zoe, he's been trying to get you a pass to our planet! I talked to him about me making you as my mate and now he's going to make it happen!"

My heart sunk. Boss was trying to get me to their planet—for Jed.

"I know I'm not much of a hunter, but I am going to be the best and raise my status and they _will_ allow me to keep you then. I love you Zoe." He continued.

I was speechless. I was flattered . . . but. . . I began to cry.

"Don't worry Zoe! I promise I will do everything I can to claim you as my love! I will make this happen! You will be mine!"

That wasn't why I was crying, and I knew I had to tell him the truth . . . but it wasn't like I was going anywhere tomorrow. It would be a long time before anything happened, _if_ they did in fact decide I could come. And if it was anything like immigration control here in America . . . it would be years and years even. I didn't have the strength at the time to tell him I didn't love him.

About five years had passed before Jed returned to Earth—with good news. He followed the trackers signal threw the town, honing in on my location. He walked, invisible, past the gates and threw the grass to stare at my tombstone. . . It said my name, "beloved daughter", the dates. . . He did not know the cause of my death nor would he ever know.

Very soon after that, Boss risked another visit to Earth. Jed had told him of my condition. At night, he walked right up to my grave and sank to his knees. His hands griped the stone in front of him and his chest heaved with strained breaths. For a few minutes he was like this, then he did something that surprised me—he began to dig. His clawed hands dug into the dirt with absolute madness.

"I'm so so sorry." He murmured, "I should have tried harder to get you to my planet. . You would have been with Jed but at least I would have been able to look at your face."

"I should have taken you with me." He said latter, still digging up my body. . .

"No I should have stayed with you."

"I could have at least stayed longer that night."

"Should have done more."

"Should have visited."

"Should have . . . should have. . ." He came to my coffin. . . "I should have told you I loved you."

If I wasn't a motherfucking ghost I would have cried my eyes out right then. Damn it I loved him too . . . and now I couldn't say it. He lifted the coffin out of the earth and carried it back to the ship, which was actually parked in the cemetery. He came back and filled in my grave, but took the tombstone with him. I watched him disappear forever.

. . . Well, at least I didn't have to break the news to Jed that I didn't love him, that I'd never loved him. . .


End file.
